Commonwealth silver as Adcocks win their rubber

Adcock and England headed into Monday night’s final against Malaysia looking to wrestle back the Commonwealth title they last won 12 years ago at Manchester 2002.

In the two Games since, it had been their opponents who had ruled the roost, picking up gold at both Melbourne 2006 and Delhi 2010.

And despite Adcock pairing up with wife Gabby to win the opening mixed doubles rubber in straight sets, Malaysia had that winning feeling again and triumphed 3-1.

Adcock, who still improved on his best result of team bronze from Delhi 2010, does have a chance to get his hands on gold in the mixed and men’s doubles later in the week and the 25-year-old intends to take full advantage.

“We’re really happy with how the tournament has gone so far and standing here with a silver medal is a proud moment for all of us,” he said.

“It was always going to be a tough match and we knew the start was crucial. We got off to the perfect start and had a real battle with the Malaysians but managed to sneak it in two.

“We set the ball rolling and Rajiv (Ouseph) really took up the mantle and he was so close. Credit to the team for how we reacted but there was a momentum shift after our men’s doubles.

“We didn’t quite perform and they were that split second quicker than us. I can take a lot of confidence from this performance.

“I’m really looking forward to the doubles and am feeling good. With a day or so rest in us I’ll come out all guns blazing and hopefully I will be one step higher on the podium.”

Adcock, who has been in impressive form in Glasgow, won his first match alongside wife Gabby 21-14, 28-26 but was unable to repeat the trick, losing 19-21, 17-21 with Andy Ellis in the doubles.

A pivotal rubber, the men’s doubles prompted some of the biggest cheers from the Emirates Arena crowd and Adcock, who was initially inspired by the nation’s gold-medal success at Manchester 2002, admitted it had been good to see so many people getting involved.

“If you are watching people achieve special things and then a few years down the line we’re standing there on the podium it’s a special feeling,” he added.

“If we can have inspired anybody who watched live or on TV then that’s great. We hope people enjoyed the badminton and we know everyone who comes to watch it live does.

“If we can get more people playing then that is another achievement for us.”

Adcock was joined on the second spot of the podium by Southwell-based team mate Peter Mills, who had played in the earlier rounds of the competition.

He took on the role of cheerleader in the final and the 26-year-old admitted the nerves and excitement had certainly got to him as he marked his Games debut with a medal.

“It feels brilliant to win silver, to come to my first Commonwealth Games and win a silver medal is a dream come true really,” said Mills, who will also contest the men’s doubles later this week.

“You just can’t imagine what it feels like getting that medal so when it happens, you get goosebumps.

“My parents and family have always said to me all the way through my career how hard it is watching and I’ve always been like ‘how can it be, you are just sat there?’

“The last couple of days we have really tried to get behind the team and I do actually feel exhausted. But we just wanted to help them get everything they could out of the game.”

Commonwealth Games England (CGE) leads and manages the participation of the Team England at the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Youth Games. We work with sports, sponsors and Sport England to support the development of athletes and their sports, and to achieve success at Games-time.